When “Moonlight” became the first LGBTQ film in history to win the Academy Award for best picture, it reflected a little-discussed but evolving cinematic trend: LGBTQ storytelling is some of the most interesting and innovative in the world right now.

This exciting era of unapologetic filmmaking will be on display June 15-25 at San Francisco’s Frameline festival, the largest and most important LGBTQ movie event on the planet. The quality of the films has never been higher, with many of them having won awards or wowed audiences at Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Tribeca and South by Southwest.

It is fitting, perhaps, that this surge of creativity is coming from filmmakers who don’t seem to care about, well, fitting in.

“We’re seeing an undeniably creative and bold storytelling approach from filmmakers who don’t seem concerned about their queer gaze or cultural background fitting in with the mainstream,” said Des Buford, Frameline’s director of exhibition and programming. “There’s a casual indifference to what’s deemed ‘relatable’ that lends their films a refreshingly authentic, and honest feeling.”

Two prominent examples: “God’s Own Country,” a romance between a Yorkshire sheep farmer and a migrant, which won major awards at Sundance and Berlin; and “I Dream in Another Language,” a surreal tale of lost love, which won an audience award at Sundance.

Frances Wallace, Frameline’s executive director, said: “The sophistication of Frameline41’s narratives both from the United States and internationally is astounding. The scripts and story lines have reached a high point that, as evidenced by awards, at times is now overshadowing non-LGBTQ storytelling.”

The festival will open with “The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin,” a crowd-pleaser about the San Francisco author of the seminal “Tales of the City” serial. The U.S. centerpiece will be the affectingly wry “Becks,” starring Tony winner Lena Hall as a broke singer with a broken heart. And the closing night feature will be “After Louie,” a moving film in which Alan Cumming plays a closed-off AIDS activist who turns to a Millennial to reconnect with the world.

In between, there will be more than 140 films, many with singular, unbridled visions.

“I don’t think queer filmmakers and artists care nearly as much as they used to about mainstream audience’s reactions to things like gay sex and intimacy on screen. And honestly, I don’t think audiences care nearly as much — especially the younger generation,” Buford said.

Programmer Harry Vaughn also is finding that more narratives have refreshingly positive and hopeful outcomes — which wasn’t always the case.

“Our community has, over the years, come to expect films that feature frank depictions of gay sex or love to end in tragedy or violence,” he said. “But recently, we’re seeing a positive shift, whether it’s the sex-positive intergenerational affirmation of ‘After Louie,’ the complicated revelations about personal responsibility in ‘Becks’ or the messy but durable same-sex affections at the heart of ‘God’s Own Country.’”

“There are still issues of access to financing and broad distribution platforms that face filmmakers choosing to work with LGBTQ themes,” said senior programmer Peter L. Stein. “And women and filmmakers of color still face a steeper challenge to get their work made and seen.”

Hollywood isn’t exactly filling up the screen with LGBTQ characters and stories, either, even as independent LGBTQ movies earn more praise from mainstream film critics.

“What we’re witnessing is a more socially awake and conscious queer movement in film,’’ Vaughn said, “and it’s hard to imagine its momentum being blunted anytime soon, especially amid such tense political upheaval.

“We do need to be careful post-‘Moonlight’ not to assume that mainstream validation means that film festivals are now insignificant for projects seeking red-carpet approval. Part of what keeps LGBTQ cinema thriving is its vocal base that gives queer films a unique type of ground support and street cred that can’t always be conjured up by more mainstream community gatherings.”

Frameline continues to provide important backing for LGBTQ projects: 10 films in this year’s lineup received grants from the Frameline Completion Fund. “Frameline’s mission,” Wallace said, “is to change the world through the power of queer cinema — and change can only happen if this more challenging content continues to be produced.”

Indeed, LGBTQ filmmakers have come a long way since film scholar B. Ruby Rich coined the New Queer Cinema movement 25 years ago.

Back then, Stein said, “those films showed that queer subject matter and aesthetics needn’t be hidden or positioned only in deferential contrast to mainstream culture. Today’s movement — and I am not sure it is a coherent movement as much as a shared, assured attitude — is marked not by common opposition to an oppressive majority culture, but, ironically, by an insistence that our stories belong in the majority cultures.

“These films insist that sexual identities are part of a fabric inextricably woven from national, tribal, cultural, religious and racial identities. They say, in the best possible way, ‘It’s complicated.’”

David Lewis is a Bay Area freelancer.

Frameline41

The San Francisco International LGBTQ Festival

What: A showcase of the world’s best LGBTQ cinema

When: June 15-25

Where: Castro, Roxie and Victoria theaters in San Francisco; Elmwood in Berkeley; and Piedmont in Oakland.

Opening night film: “The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin,” a look at the legendary San Francisco writer, 7 p.m., June 15, Castro; followed by a gala at Terra Gallery, 511 Harrison Street (at First), San Francisco.

U.S. centerpiece: “Becks,” a wry bittersweet tale of a down-on-her-luck singer who returns home, 6:30 p.m., June 21, Castro.

World centerpiece: “I Dream in Another Language,” a surreal story of a lost love in the Mexican rain forest, 6:30 p.m., June 20, Castro.

Closing night film: “After Louie,” an intergenerational drama involving a 1980s AIDS activist and a Millennial, 7 p.m., June 25, Castro; followed by a party at Oasis, 298 11th Street (at Folsom), San Francisco.